Traditional craft
Ojiya Tsumugi
小千谷紬
The silk sister of Ojiya Chijimi: a light, warm cloth spun from silk floss, with cheerful folk-style patterns, from the heavy-snow town of Ojiya.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 4 September 1975
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 小千谷紬
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 長岡市、小千谷市、十日町市
Silk with a soft, airy hand
Ojiya Tsumugi is made from silk floss: cocoons are opened out into soft batting and spun into thread. The thread is full of air, so the cloth is light and warm. It comes in many folk-style patterns and is made in Ojiya, Nagaoka and Tokamachi in Niigata.
Patterns rubbed onto the thread
The weaver lays a wooden koba ruler against the threads and rubs dye straight onto them where the pattern falls. After the colour is fixed, the cloth is woven while matching small marks at the selvedge, so the motifs line up.
From home use to a craft of its own
Tsumugi was first woven at home from leftover cocoons, using the methods of Ojiya Chijimi, when silk farming started here in the mid-Edo period. By the late Edo period silk merchants came from as far as Kyoto. Proper production began in the early Showa era.
Good to know
- Feel the cloth: the slightly uneven, puffy thread is the sign of hand-spun floss.
- Ojiya makes both ramie chijimi for summer and tsumugi silk for colder months, so you can compare the two in one town.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Ojiya Tsumugi warm?
Its thread is spun from silk floss and is full of air, which keeps heat in.
Where is Ojiya Tsumugi made?
In Ojiya, Nagaoka and Tokamachi in Niigata Prefecture.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.